Report: China growing GM rice for years

Late in the summer of 2006, the USDA announced trace amounts of unapproved GM traits had been found in several rice varieties being grown in the United States.

The reaction was swift and unequivocal. Not only did the rice price drop precipitously but trading partners were lost and the rice industry and regulatory agencies scrambled to undertake a clean-up effort to remove the traits from the rice supply.

Litigation between producers and Bayer, which owned the GM traits, continues to this day.

Not to exonerate the United States but to point out it was hardly the worst offender on the GM rice front, many pointed to China. “You know,” I heard from more than a handful of folks, “China is already growing GM rice.”

Well, it appears those claims were right. According to a Wednesday report by Agence France-Presse (see here) the Chinese have had GM rice seed since 2005. Communist state officials claim the rice is available and being grown in several provinces due to “weak management.”

Further, “according to the website for the European Union's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, European countries found foodstuffs from China containing GM rice 115 times between 2006 and May (2011).”

European nations are the ones who kicked up such a fuss when tiny amounts of GM traits were found in exported U.S. rice. Let’s see how they react to this report.